Cinema and the Internet: A New Partner for Developing a —different?— Business Model.

Abstract

The cinema industry is immersed in an unfinished process of digitalization and the delay in its conclusion is being increased because of the experimentation with media alternative and tangential to the conventional system. The digitalization of the communicative system has been developed autonomously in each sector, although the convergence among these sectors is held as a basic premise. In this context, the main problem concerning the restructuring is not so much adapting to the production processes but rather the reconfiguration of the business model. This article deals with the current situation that cinema faces, industrial-wise, in order to establish possible paths for development in a polarized scenario. On the one hand, a traditional hegemonic system, based upon the chain of processes (production, distribution and exhibition), the digitalization of which has only brought the consolidation of the hegemonic positions in commercial cinema. On the other hand, the promise of democratizing the audiovisual and communication culture, inherently in line with the Internet, presenting also alternative and complementary ways of marketing it. The aim of this research is to offer an overview of the alternative options for the creation and marketing of cinema through the Internet and new technologies. Not only do these contribute to making the creation of contents more flexible, but also allow for the exploration of new ways of expression and relating between the active parts involved in the process of creation and consumption. The objective is to analyze if there are useful patterns to outline a feasible business model involving the production process, as well as the demand of the digital spectator; allowing for, basically, talking about new ways of making films without stopping making cinema.